For men, I think, love is a thing formed of equal parts lust and astonishment. The astonishment part women understand. The lust part they only think they understand.

It's dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters.

And if you are honest about the words coming out of your characters' mouths, you'll find that you've let yourself in for a fair amount of criticism.

The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.

They had discovered one could grow as hungry for light as for food.

Weird love's better than no love at all.

I have grown into a Bestsellasaurus Rex - a big, stumbling book-beast that is loved when it shits money and hated when it tramples houses... I started out as a storyteller; along the way I became an economic force.